[1962]DLSC1754 • February 19, 1962 • Supreme Court •
YARTEY AND OKO vs. CONSTRUCTION AND FURNITURE (WEST AFRICA) LTD.
The appellants, Yartey and Oko, sued in a representative capacity on behalf of the Apenkwa community against the first and second respondents, the original defendants and registered trustees, alleging unlawful entry on a portion of land, destruction of farms, and asserting usufructuary rights under native customary law. The third respondent, the Onamrokor Adain family, was involved regarding rights of ingress and egress over a narrow strip of land used as a road across the Apenkwa land.
read moreJUDGMENT OF ADUMUA-BOSSMAN J.S.C. [His lordship narrated the facts as set out in the headnote and continued:] From the pleadings there emerged as the main issues between the appellants and the first and second respondents (the original defendants and the registered trustees) the following: (1) Whether the appellants were entitled, or had any right to sue in the representative capacity in which they sued; (2) whether the first respondents’ admitted entry on a portion of the land was or was not unlawful; and whether in making entry they did the acts complained of in paragraph 5 of the statement of claim, namely, laid waste farms; (3) Whether or not the appellants had usufructuary rights over the land according to native customary law, and whether, if they had, any alientation without their consent was not void. As between the appellants and the third respondent, i.e. the Onamrokor Adain family the main issue was whether the third respondent was entitled or not to grant to the fi.....